files permission and hidden files are not rsync properly

[Matt McCutchen]

On 7/19/07, Abdul Khan <akhan at systems.fleetwoodmetal.com> wrote:
> I have recently installed rsync.2.6.9. on CentOS4.x boxes. That was my
> first backup yesterday.

In the future and if you need more help on this issue than the below,
please send the exact rsync command you used!

> But I notice that some hidden (or dot files) are not copied to the other
> host on the network.

Rsync said "skipping non-regular file".  That means the files aren't
regular and you haven't passed the option to tell rsync to copy files
of that type.  What are those files?  Symlinks?  If so, then pass -l.

> And group and ownership of the files are changed to
> "nobody" while files and folders permission are copied properly. So what
> am mission here can anybody shed light please?

By default, rsync preserves owners and groups by name if possible or
otherwise by number.  That means if the destination machine lacks a
"vpopmail" user and a "vchkpw" group, rsync sets the same numerical
IDs on the destination as on the source.  If those IDs represent
"nobody" and "nobody" on the destination, the files get that
ownership.  Creating "vpopmail" and "vchkpw" on the destination
machine should fix the problem.

Matt